Gaia 2023: Greeniology 2020 by Tanya Ha

You must be the change you wish to see in the world Mahatma Ghandi Climate change is at the front of our minds these days, particularly as we experience soaring temperatures and more extreme weather events than ever before. Hearing the dire predictions for the future, it is quite natural to feel overwhelmed. We wonder: …

Gaia Reading Challenge 2023: I Know This to be True – Greta Thunberg

" People always tell us that they are hopeful. They are hopeful that the young people are going to save the world. But we are not. There is simply not enough time to wait for us to grow up and become the ones in charge." Greta Thunberg Greta Thunberg hardly needs any introduction. As a …

Gaia 2022: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham

The Triffids:… horrible alien things which some of us had somehow created and which the rest of us in our careless greed had cultured all over the world. …somehow they had been bred….(and they) seemed able to profit and flourish on our disaster… The Day of the Triffids was first published in 1951 and adapted …

Gardening in a Wet Season

Queensland Floods, December 2010 This summer has been quite a weather event with flooding across many Australian states. In Western Australia, not usually a state that we associate with flooding, they have recently experienced their worst flood on record in the Kimberley Ranges. As a by-product of Cyclone Ellie, the Fitzroy River Bridge has almost …

Gaia 2022: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

“If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way” Anna Sewell, Black Beauty (1877) In this beloved classic by Anna Sewell, strong, handsome and free-spirited Black Beauty narrates the story of his life. Born to his mother …

The Village Roses

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Anderson If the Covid Pandemic has taught us anything, it is that happiness, mental wellbeing and quality of life is not found in wealth, social status or even in the office, but in deep connection with family, friends and …

Gaia Challenge 2022: The Good Earth

Image by Sasin Tipchai - Pixabay Out of the land we came and into it we must go. Pearl S Buck - The Good Earth (1931) The Good Earth, written by Pearl S Buck and first published in 1931, is a surprising candidate for the Gaia Challenge. Set in China, the book traces the life …

The Next-Door Neighbour

Living in the wide open spaces One of the things we love about our place is the open space and the semi-rural atmosphere. Across the road are some stables and our house is set back far enough on our one acre block that the dust from the gravel road doesn’t bother us too much. We …

Gaia 2022: The Yield by Tara June Winch

Yield itself is a funny word - yield in English is the reaping, the things that man can take from the land, the thing he’s waited for and gets to claim. A wheat yield. In my language it’s the things you give to, the movement, the space between things. (The Yield - Tara June Winch) Profoundly …

Phosphorescence by Julia Baird

"How do we continue to glow when the lights turn out? All we can do really is keep placing one foot on the earth, then the other, to seek out ancient paths and forests, certain in the knowledge that others have endured before us. We must love. And we must look outwards and upwards at …